I’m having a debate with my buddy who uses Gatorade’s Nutrition Shake after his workouts for recovery. Please help settle the following recurring debate …
**Me: **The #2 ingredient after “water” is “syrup.” Him: It works.
**Me: **That’s kind of a pragmatic solution, isn’t it? Your solution is merely causing other problems. Him: Such as? Me: To begin with, your “solution” is as if I drank water + pure maple syrup, which is closer to its natural state than the Gatorade “syrup.” This use of short-string sugars is just sending your blood sugar into outer space for the short-term, which to you feels like a recovery, but it’s really just a sugar rush. Him: That can’t be true because Gatorade spends more money on exercise research, including performance and recovery, than any other company, especially your little Hammer company. (Aside: my buddy actually trains under the watchful eye at the Gatorade facility here in Chicago.) Me: All that money and research and the best Gatorade can come up with is syrup? Him: It’s only $1/serving and your stuff, including workouts and recovery, would break me financially considering how many workouts are required to compete in this sport. Me: It’s only $1 because they’re giving you syrup. There’s got to be some middle ground here. I’ll ask the Slowtwich forum, it is a source of great wisdom.
**If you think he should not be drinking it, what should he be drinking? **
That’s the big question we end with. I think he should drink Recoverite from Hammer. But, it’s too expensive. So, that’s why we agree (in my mythical debate) to solicit Slowtwitchia for a “better” solution. “Better” means not too expensive; yet better nutrition solution. IOW, “better” means more like Recoverite (as to nutrition); yet, more like Gatorade (as to cost).
**Guinness . . . of course. **
I think you say this tongue-in-cheek. Yet, you are making a joke that is very similar to the piont I’m making. The nice solution about Guinness as a recovery drink is that it has a lot of the things that would make a good recovery drink … it’s easy to drink, it’s got carbs and protein, etc.; yet, it suffers as a VERY pragmatic solution insofar as just as Guinness would “work” to help your body recover, the alcohol content would also cause other problems. That’s the point I’m making with using Gatorade (i.e., syrup) as a recovery drink.
**What’s wrong with chocolate milk? **
I don’t think milk is a good solution to any problem … it’s more pragmatism to me. I’d rather this thread did not turn into a “Prove to me why milk is bad” thread. So, if that’s where we’re at, then I would only ask for more alternative solutions besides dairy. I have a smoothy (almond milk, strawberries, bananas, berries, eggs) after most morning workouts. Yet, that won’t work for most people, including my buddy, who need something more portable and quicker. There must be other solutions.
Choc milk (or soy milk, or smoothies) in the boxes like kids drinks come in.
Ensure. Buy it by the case and it’s under a buck a bottle for 250 cals of chocolate yummy goodness!
Yogurt. Cereal. YooHoo.
Really, anything that has some carbs and protein in it is fine.
And simple sugars right after exercise are actually no problemo, in fact many say that at that time they are a good thing.
You can get great deals on stuff like Balance bars or Pria or Powerbar Harvest or whatnot on sales online, where the cost goes down to like $0.50 per bar.
If ya want fluids, tap water is free.
Endurox can be gotten very cheaply on sale online as well.
(definitely an acquired taste to it however)
I’ll often use 1.5 scoops vs. 2, since I’ll be eating an actual meal shortly thereafter anyway.
Therefore I get that many more servings per mega-jug, and the cost per serving goes down to being pretty cheap.
**Guinness . . . of course. **
I think you say this tongue-in-cheek. Yet, you are making a joke that is very similar to the piont I’m making. . …
A bit tongue in cheek but I do drink a guiness after my nightly run. Good for the body and good for the soul.
A bit tongue in cheek but I do drink a guiness after my nightly run. Good for the body and good for the soul.
Yes, notwithstanding my zealot stance against all things dairy, I eat ice cream after my evening rides. Yet, I distinguish my ice cream and your Guinness consumption as defensible only under the “Mmmmm … ice cream … good for my soul” argument; in contradistinction to the “good recovery for my body” argument. IOW, I don’t rationalize my post-workout ice cream by saying that Breyer’s does an extraordinary amount of exercise research. I’ve only heard a few defenses to the Gatorade “syrup” shake. Some intriguing solutions so far. Others?
Gatorade may spend a lot on research, but I bet they spend 2x that on marketing. And this is wokring on your ‘friend’ as he is buying into it. Gatorade AM? and that other kind that has like 20 calories? So THIS particular mix of sugar and water is good for ‘recovery’ while gatorade AM is good for ‘replenishing what you lose at night’ blah blah its all the same remix crap
Just have real food, juice or yogurt or something. You don’t need all that other crap.
